As Barack Obama continues in his first days in office, he'll be surrounded by trusted advisers.Before he makes a decision, he's likely to consult members of his Cabinet. He'll probably ask their opinions on everything from foreign policy to domestic issues. In the end, of course, the final decision will be his. But he will make that decision based on input he's received from people he trusts and respects.
So, who is in your Cabinet?
You may think you don't need a trusted group of advisers. After all, you're not the president of the United States, and may believe that it's a luxury reserved for world leaders.
Not so. In fact, no one may need a Cabinet today more than someone trying to get ahead.
That's because times are tough. It's hard not to be pessimistic about the future, at least for the moment. But with a Cabinet in place, you not only can do a better job of keeping difficult times in perspective, but you can have in place people to advise you when times are bad -- and good.
Who should be in your Cabinet? Well, let's consider who Obama has chosen. Some descriptions that come to mind: Smart, savvy, experienced and diverse. His advisers are not shrinking violets -- and Obama has reportedly encouraged them to be true to themselves and offer their unbiased opinions.
That's exactly what you're aiming for with your Cabinet: Smart, savvy, experienced and diverse. Now, let's look at how you put a Cabinet together:
* Make a list. Think of those you've worked with in past and current positions, or others you've met through various professional or academic functions. For your Cabinet, it's best to steer away from personal friends and family members. You want people who are more concerned with what's best for you professionally, rather than just becoming emotional about what happens in your career.
* Don't rush. Putting together your Cabinet won't happen overnight. You need to carefully consider each person, develop a comfortable relationship with them, to be able to begin to access the strengths and experience they can offer. And, you need to be able to offer something in return -- this is supposed to be a relationship that is beneficial for them as well. Perhaps you'll be a Cabinet member for them or be able to offer valuable contacts or help when needed. If you don't think you can offer reciprocal benefits, you may need to consider someone else.
* Who has your back? In the working world it can often be tricky to know exactly who to trust. A person may say they have your best interests at heart, but actions speak otherwise. When looking for a Cabinet, think about who has covered for you at work without whining about it. Or, the person who gave you a heads up about a new project that you might like or the person at another company who alerted you to a great new job that was opening up. Your Cabinet members should be supportive of you, and show they have your best interests at heart.
* Be realistic. Your Cabinet isn't going to do your work for you. That's still your responsibility. They're in place to give you advice, to act as a sounding board and to give you their honest opinion whether you're doing the right thing or headed for disaster. Don't abuse their talents and don't take them for granted. Make sure you always offer something of value in return, and you and your Cabinet will go far in the coming years.
The time is now to begin managing your career. It can begin by building your own Cabinet or Board of Advisors. What are some other ideas or considerations for building a career Cabinet? Do you have any experiences to share about trying to build your own?
53 comments:
I feel that this method of building a cabinet can be applied in many aspects of our lives. For example, having trusted and responsible people around you while attending college can help you achieve more. Also at work, if you have a few "good" people surrounding you, your work life and path to promotion may become easier to obtain. There is only one part of the post that I have mixed feelings about. That is the part about not having friends in your cabinet. I can see that if you allow friends or family into your "cabinet", there may be problems you must deal with in the future. On the flip side, friends and family to me are the ones who can really have your back. It all depends on your relationship I would say. One last thing to note is that in my previous experiences of forming such groups (whether at work or else where) many of my "cabinet" members have become close friends. Great post! I enjoyed thinking about this topic.
In principle i think most of us already have a cabinet. we choose the type of people we socialize with which in turn is the type of cabinet you want. if you surround yourself with motivated friends than you will be influenced by that.
This is my first time being introduced to this topic: Building your own Cabinet. I took a second to think what the meaning behind this was while I was reading the rest of the article. I found that there are people around me act like a cabinet to me. For example, my coworker in my bookkeeping job, she is a very experience old lady who came from China. She was a manager in China. Because of her daughter, her whole family moved to America. Even though she reached her retirement age, she still has to work. Due to the language difficulty, she was unable to perform her full ability. I often be her translator, she also teaches me things that I don’t learn in school. I still remember a lesson she told me is that everything has to be writing in order to be effective. I believed in order to build a strong cabinet, there must to trust involved. This is the fundamental concept to build a relationship. I also agree with what Professor Kurpis had written, “Make sure you always offer something of value in return, and you and your Cabinet will go far in the coming years.”
In building a career cabinet, it's good to explore your options by networking. It can never hurt to know more people, from the President of Baruch College to the custodians. Also, while it may be good to not have people you have personal relationships with in your career cabinet, it shouldn't mean that your relationship with your career cabinet remain strictly professional. Work is not the only aspect in anyone's life, and it's good to still get to your know your co-workers on a more personal level in case their personal issues are clouding their work ethic. Even a simple lunch or small talk with them every now and then will do. As for an experience with trying to build my cabinet... I joined an organization full with vivacious, life-loving, and seemingly friendly people. I was very open to getting to know them and putting trust in them, and I found myself having more frenemies than actual friends. It's best not to put your trust in someone too soon.
For your Cabinet, it's best to steer away from personal friends and family members. You want people who are more concerned with what's best for you professionally, rather than just becoming emotional about what happens in your career.
If someone is concerned about you, doesnt that mean they are friends? Which in turn means that whey will be emotional. I mean if you are concerned about something, which means you care about it, doesnt that automatically mean you will have emotions concerning it?
Fortunately, I have three cabinets, one is China and the other two are in America. Every time when I feel down or lost, I always ask their help. Sometimes, they give me their opinions; and sometimes, they just stay with me and provide me shoulder. These friends are the best cabinet who support me and console me. I agree with your saying that, “Your Cabinet isn't going to do your work for you. That's still your responsibility.” Yes, our cabinets advise us and we have to figure out the problem by ourselves. However, having trustable cabinets like having great treasure, we need to cherish them forever and ever.
Finding the right Cabit, in my opinion, is a work that will never end. For example, we have the old friends but at the same time we would like and create new friends to hang out with. Wether because we feel good to be around them or just because they can provide some type of benefit into our lives. For every aspect of our lives, we eventualy built a perfect Cabinet: work, friends, school, family,etc.
but those Cabinets are in constant evolution in order to keep up with our needs and personal growth.
For my cabinet, I would probably have my mother for comfort, academic advisor + mentor for advice outside the box, people who I look up to for encouragement and advice, old collegues + managers/directors for job information and hookups. There are others, these are off the top of my head. For your criteria, my mother would probably get voted off though :) As Ameer said, it could definitely get unorganized and messy, but as you said, the decision is really up to myself. I am a firm believer in the whole taking what you want, regardless of advice. I, however, understand that advice is like marketing - where the tough choices lie, advice [marketing] may be the deciding factor between one idea [brand] and the other.
I believe that everone, no matter who you are, has there own cabinet. A cabinet can range from something as large as the President's cabinet or as small as a few close friends. By choosing your friends you have chosen a cabinet; the people in your life that are the most important and influential. When choosing a cabinet that is going to be as influential as the Presidents, there needs to be a lot more consideration, as the consequences of poor decisions are much more detrimental. Although you may initially want to choose your friends, this may not be such a great idea. This might not be a great idea becuase you are lacking diversity, something needed to be able to accomodate and benefit the greater good. A great cabinet would be made up of a wide variety of people based on different backgrounds with different interests that would debate to find the best way to accomplish a common goal, not just a good way.
I believe that people you put in your cabinet has to be people you trust, because you shouldn't trust someone based on what you know of them from other people. You have to know that person yourself in order to know whether or not these are the kind of people you can really have faith in when it comes down to it. And usually those people who you should have as your own cabinet, are ones who trust you.
The first thing I thought of after reading, was what jobs or situations are there that would not be better off with a "cabinet" or group of supporters. In short, I couldn't really think of any that weren't individual team sports like pool or golf (although that is not true all of the time). Personally I think that I do have a strong cabinet in my family and closest friends. I trust that they will never lead me astray. However as you pointed out, the end result in decision making lies with me and my cabinet must respect that-Despite the fact that often times they do not agree with me or each other. Also, I think that we, as well as President Obama should realize that our cabinet is not always correct, no matter how positive they are. In essence, a cabinet is simply another form of digesting advice.
I agree with your traits in picking out an cabinet, of course they should be experienced especially since it is regarding your professional career. The other traits I look for in adding people into my cabinet are ones with similar values and goals as I do. Like for example co-workers who are promoted but once had your current position. I tend to listen to people who have an interest in marketing. However also having people with different backgrounds and ideas can help you make a better decision because you are aware of multiple aspects of the situation.
I think we all have cabinets of our own one way or another. Whether they are for professional reasons or not. We have people around us that always gives us advise when we encounters obstacles in life. Building a cabinet with people who gives you advises is an excellent idea. But I don't agree that friends and family members can't be in that cabinet. I mean, they are the ones that can most definite give you the best advise because they understand you better than anyone else. You always tend to go to them first for any kinds of problems you have. Like, parents they can give you life experience advises that in ways can help you in your career. Of course, at work you would build another cabinet of advisories that are your close contact co-workers to help out on your other work-related problems that you come to face. Having a cabinet that has a combination of both friend families and co-workers/professionals can give you more opinions and open to a better decision making at the end.
i think a lot of us somehow already has a group of people to support and give advices to us. however, most of them are our "personal friends and family members" which you advice to steer away. they are not only support us, but also advices us on our professional life.Besides that, they are a group of people who we really trust. Thus, i think we should include them into our cabinet
I totally agree about the influence and need for a cabinet in someones life. The problem with the suggestion is that I don't really trust in many people besides my family. I do listen to many of them but not necessarly follow their advice but my instinct.
Usually the ones who surround you are people with similar personalities or people who enjoy what you can provide to contribute with their formation as well. We also find bad people who sees you achieving so much and become full of envy. That is the reason why it takes me some time to trust in people.
But yes, it is true that a cabinet with positive and good people will help you through every of your choices. The problem is to choose that cabinet, it is not easy at all. I now understand the President! Hope I can add more quality people from school to my cabinet.
I think one important checklist item you left out would be: Double-Check the backgrounds for your cabinet members!
Obama has already been scrutinized by the media for his Treasury of Secretary Pick Timothy Geithner. He should have done a more thorough background check before he selected him. What is ironic about that pick is that he committed tax fraud, and failed to pay over 30 grand in taxes. Now Obama asked him to run the nations treasury? He can't even run his own personal finances, how can he run his own nations!
Well, I do agree that everyone needs a cabinet of sorts. I personally would catergorize my cabinet as small and intimate. I believe anything to large becomes commercialized and would not be about me or my cabinet. My supporters would of course be diverse, professional, open-minded, adaptable, wordly, and most importantly NOT self-interested people. They are tough roles to fulfill but I do believe that these are just a few qualities that I would look for in my canidates for a cabinet and do look for. I have had some great professional experieces and would try to incorporate some of these people along the way. As I progress in life I've made a conscientous effort to acknowledge and embrace the people who have put time and effort into me and made my best interests their best interests.
Honestly, I'm not a cabinet kind of guy. I work great with others, but as a preference, i would rather go it alone. I mostly attribute this to a lack of trust, but if a tightly knit professional group was allotted to me, it would be a valued asset.
I think Obama is doing a pretty good job so far. His cabinet members are well selected and very diversed. Each member represents certain group of people that would provide Obama with advice and need of different groups. As students of Baruch college, I think we also have many advisers around us to help us when we are in difficult situation, such as professors of different subjects, supervisor, coworkers, friends and most importantly family members. We can ask their opinions on the subject matter and choose what we want to do.
This is a great tool to use. I worked as a trader a few years ago until my company down sized. I made a few good friends from that job that I still speak to and get advise. I did not work with these people at my company but worked with them through my company. I am currently working with my brother's company but I still miss being a trader. I consider one of those contacts a good friend and he has got me a few interviews. I will make him my first cabinet member and I will choose carefully the rest of my cabinet. I totally agree that you must not just be taker but you must give back also, which I do every chance I get. This sounds like a great tool, and will start using it immediately.
I agree that when making a list, leave out your family and personal friends. In addition to them being emotional, you might be emotional too. When they slack off, you might not say anything. When you do say something, it might not be motivating enough to make them work. Having a cabinet is good when you need help with things. After what happened a year ago, I don't really like working in a group anymore.
There is definitley a need for a support team however I look to my family and friends. After reading this I want to add more people or change my cabinet. I think a cabinet is neccessary as you go thru college and try to build a career. I can do more networking to build my cabinet. This article has open me up to seriously considering a cabinet filled with more then family and friends.
Your blog has some interesting points. I like the "Be Realistic" and "Who has your Back". It's very important not to depend on others to do your work. For me it is the height of laziness at work. I have learned from my job that when it comes to hard times at work not even your close workmates will back you up. We had an instance when we all agreed to a point during our lunch break but when it came to judgement day, everyone went their own way. I learnt from that day that you got to look after your back no matter what the situation is. Have i taught about my cabinet as yet? Not as yet but I will keep into consideration these points.
a "cabinet" of advisers is extremely important for future success. as we all know, no one is perfect; there will be situations that occur in our lives where we wont know how to react. therefore, having a group of people who u can consult and confide in is not only important for your future but necessary for a healthy outlook on life. however, the post recommends to steer away from friends and family when developing a "cabinet". i think if friends and family fit the description of savvy, experienced and unbiased, who better of a candidate? my cabinet currently consists of a couple of co-workers, family, and friends (selective friends of course). thus far, i feel I'm on the right path and achieved countless things in my lifetime. Great post!
I believe that have cabinet to work with me is very important. When I have problems or concerns, i will alaways go to my cabinets and ask them for help. I have 2 cabinets, they always give me good advise when I get lost. Everyone has their own talents and weakness, sometimes we can't find out a way to solve certain problems, but others can. When you feel lost, need help and get advise, go to you own cabinet, you will find a satisfy answer.
I think that the four steps of choosing a person’s own cabinet are very useful to for to look for earnest cabinet members. A cabinet is critical and fundamental for a person’s achievement. It saves you a lot of work. It not only helps you with your problems and questions on an assignment, it also provide you convenience. Such as professor has mentioned that your genuine cabinet will have no problem and no complain to cover you up when you are busy and unable to fix your schedule. A person without any cabinet will be very much in trouble that he will get no help from anyone. However, having a cabinet is not unilateral. It involves a mutual relationship, you also have to pay attention to and assist your cabinets as much as they do to you. Even though I have my own cabinets in my work area, I am eager to look for more of them. It’s just more helpful for you if you can get more people to share the same issue with you when you need it. But make sure your don't over relay on your cabinets since the most reliable person is yourself.
I totally agree with you professor, when you say no friends and relatives in your work cabinet. There is nothing worse than having personal relationships with people that work for you. It is hard to manage them. They will always expect you to treat them special. If they do something awfully wrong they will expect you to have their back. They expect favors from you. They will always confuse business with friendship. it is much easier to deal with people you are not related to. You can always have loyal people who have your back, and work fairly for you. When it comes to your personal life, you need the other cabinet, the closser circle of family and friends.
I think doing this things are a great start in building a cabinet. It's not about putting your friends it's about putting intelligent people who have the ability to think quickly and solve problems. When considering who to put in a Cabinet you need to think of the people you know their skills and evaluate carefully if they would fit a position in your cabinet.
Building a "cabinet" seems like a basic task, but it is placement of these cabinet members that effect you. I believe its a bad idea to mix work, school and personal life. Somethings just don't and shouldn't mix like oil and water. Trying to mix these elements would just create a mess.
I try to keep each cabinet by itself - work, school, and personal life. At school, i would discuss "school subjects" because thats what people know best - its their specialty. It wouldnt make sense to ask my parents about my math homework knowing that they haven't been to school in over 30years.
The 4 steps in creating a cabinet process can be successful if it is properly organized. i guess mixing cabinet members can be useful if you're looking for an unbiased and platonic answer but other cabinet members cannot be effected by it.
I believe looking for your own type of "cabinet" is something most people tend to overlook since we do it naturally. Regardless of who we choose to surround ourself with these are the type of people we will actually consider our advisors in a sense. Even though I agree with the seperating ourselves from personal ties, a few good people will always help things become more stable.
It also seems to me that friends will always care and if they do, then doesn't things become emotional. Either way emotional or not it's not a make or break situation for your career.
I definitely agree with you professor Kurpis. I would advice my fellow classmates to NETWORK, NETWORK, NETWORK! True having a college degree will get you far or even farther with a Mater’s degree, but if you don’t network and don’t have people skills you might only accomplish 70-80% of your full potential with your degrees. Being able to “market” yourself and make your self known to others will provide you with that additional 30-20% that you need to reach full potential. Remember no one like’s a loner. Networking can be done in many ways, one, introduce yourself more often to people in your company or organization (that have higher level jobs than you), two, volunteer your time to help your fellow co-worker, three, get involved with different ERG groups, be part of a good cause within your organization or company. If you company is not involved in volunteering projects, suggest it to your manager (make yourself known, show what you can do), be proactive, be positive and be optimistic but realist in the most toughest times. Also, go out to lunch with your co-workers, invite someone from another group for lunch one day, when people know who you are and your goals and where you want to be in life, when new opportunity comes up, they will remember you and recommend you. And this often times happen not because of the “great job” you’re doing (even though you are) but because you’re memorable and you left a positive impression on someone. I believe this is how you will start to build your cabinet for your professional career.
- Ray Narine
There is one statement in your posting that sticks out to me the most: “The time is now to begin managing your career.”
Actutally I would dispute that and say the following: “ The time was yesterday to start doing just that. Trusted advisers don’t pop up from nowhere and you can’t get them out of the blue. Trust can only develop over long term relationships in which one gets to know and respect one another well. Trust is a mutual concept and you can’t expect to trust someone if that other person doesn’t know how to trust you.
So on the day you make a big business decision, or decide to start a business you need to be able to fall back on advice on trusted advice. It would be too late to start looking for those advisers then.
There is nobody closer to you than your familiy and friends. Ideally they should be available for advice at any time just as you are there for them anytime. Family trust and advice certainly has its strengths. But your family might not be competent for the kind of business decisions you need advice for. That’s why your “cabinet” needs a second leg next to the family and close friends circle: People from the field you are in. People who you could describe as your professional peers. And those people you need to start looking at are in the same college and same classroom as you are right now. Forging friendships, networking and collaborating in college I personally see as the most important thing to pursue next to making sure to pass all the classes. I consider my classrooms at College like a laboratory testing ground for the real world that I will encounter once I’m entering the next phase of my life, which hopefully will be running a successful business. And one thing that I want to carry into that future life of mine are a few trusted friends that I am in touch with and can fall back on to advice from my days in College!
i agree with teddy, that building and maintaining a cabinet of trusted advisors is essential to many different aspects of our lives.
I also think you raise a great point of having people who are looking out for your best interests who are without the risk of becoming too emotional about the situation.
Lastly, i strongly agree with you when you say that you have to be able to offer something in return in order for it to be a satisfying relationship. I also think that that is the most difficult aspect of building a cabinet-of finding individuals who have the knowledge and experience to guide you but who also receive something from you as well. Too often, that "thing" that they receive is a feeling of importance for being sought out for their advice or mentorship and i think that it can be an unhealthy relationship if that is the case because it skews their perspective.
I think everyone should have a cabinet or supporters; not only to advice us career-wise decisions, but also many other things in life. I disagree with the statement of “…for your Cabinet, it's best to steer away from personal friends and family members,” I feel that there are times when your family members and friends can play very important role in your decision making because they know you well and understand what decision be the best for you. My two most trusted cabinets are my brother and my sister. Even though they’re my family, my brother (and his girlfriend) has tons of experience in the accounting field – the career I want to pursue in, and he gives me advices that I find are most suitable for me. For example, the courses I need to take in order to meet my requirement and the accounting/tax concepts that I need to know. On the other hand, my sister understands well about how to act out there in the society; she gives me a lot of helpful realistic tips on how to deal with certain social issues. A lot of my good friends also provide me with many advices that would make me more comfortable in the choices I want to make sometimes.
Building a career cabinet in terms of our positions as students and soon to be professionals makes me think about networking. Who have I tried to network with? Who would I like to network with? I look at networking as people who can help me get to where I want to be and give me the best advice possible. I would want knowledgeable professionals who are new and season to the industry I am interested in. I completely agree that family member are definitely people you want to keep out of your cabinet. Emotional control, absence of controversies, and complete trust are things you would need all of your family cabinet members to have and are seemingly rare to find when money or power are involved.
it's cool to become a leader for a country. I appreciate his speech which is awesome. I always think we cannot live alone and that we need friends and family to support us. especially working at a firm, if you are always alone and stay away from people, you are not able to accomplish work efficiently and effectively because one brain never works better than brains work together.therefore, i think interpersonal skill is very important in our life.
it's cool to become a leader for a country. I appreciate his speech which is awesome. I always think we cannot live alone and that we need friends and family to support us. especially working at a firm, if you are always alone and stay away from people, you are not able to accomplish work efficiently and effectively because one brain never works better than brains work together.therefore, i think interpersonal skill is very important in our life.
it's cool to become a leader for a country. I appreciate his speech which is awesome. I always think we cannot live alone and that we need friends and family to support us. especially working at a firm, if you are always alone and stay away from people, you are not able to accomplish work efficiently and effectively because one brain never works better than brains work together.therefore, i think interpersonal skill is very important in our life.
when I first read this title, there was a list of people suddenly in my mind that I can consider as my cabinet. They are my close friends, my co-workers and my classmates. they are those ones that will support me when i need their help.but after i read the entire blog, I realized that all ppl in my list are those i know that gonna support my decisions and say to me " Go, do it".
that's not a good Cabinet supposed to be. I should have ppl that can give me different opinions or disagree my decisions. It's hard to accept some different voices sometimes, but I guess it helps to make my decision more logical and realistic.
I would say in the past i had temporary cabinets. Because when i read this post, some of the people that fit the role of the description reminded me of the people I've worked with in projects and such. But I think the post contradicts itself/unclear at some points, such as when they say not to consider personal friends. But at a later point they tell you to have a good relationship with your cabinet members and be able to trust them. Like they said business is a risky and horrifying place with people out there to really just take a stab at you. How can you trust someone who you can't consider a personal close friend, instead you have to trust a person with the idea in mind that the person is useful to me, and I'm useful to them. It's almost like you aren't trusting them at all, except you're just with them to reap up the benefits. I think if i were to choose cabinet members, i would include some of my personal friends, those that like to be blunt, unbiased, and don't really like to sugar coat the things they say. And mix it up with those that have a firm goal and a future in mind, and are working towards it. Because a person who has a goal and a future laid out before them, to me is a person who is responsible and already understands the hardships of certain situations making their experience or thought invaluable to me.
I think that I already have my cabinet, but I keep building it up by networking. To find people who can support you or give you advice is easier than to keep these relationships. It’s not easy to keep in touch with people: we need to spend our time calling them, emailing, texting, facebooking them. I always try to find common interests with the people from my cabinet. My cabinet consists of my friends of friends of my friends, my past and present workers. I think that it’s very important to be friendly and to give back also. I hate when people using others. I agree with the professor that we have to make sure we always offer something of value in return, in order to keep and maintain our cabinet.
A person like me should definitely have a cabinet i can go to for advice. It is important to keep in mind that they will not make the decisions for me. Before i consult the cabinet, I should already have my decision made, but i would just consult the cabinet on their views. Their opinions would only help me into making a decision, it shouldnt be the decision. Since I am not the president and i dont need geniuses as my cabinets, as in i wont ever have to be faced with a world saving decision. However the characteristics i would chose for my cabinets are (considering that people are somewhat smart) considerate, reasonable, understanding, and good listeners. Considering all that, i feel like i've already have a cabinet of my own. Im lucky to have a bunch of people that i can trust to go to for advice. My two sisters that are understandable and willing to listen to me yap. and also three really good friends that are smart, and most of all i can trust. I know i can always count on them
I do agree with the fact that everyone will need a cabinet to step forward in life. However, i feel that your family and freinds are and can be your cabinets as well. they are there to give you advice for you to talk to and for your support. If i was to create a cabinet and not choose any of my friends or family i would most likely choose someone who is very similar to them. I would need each and every one of my memebr to be able to support me and critically analyze my decision. They must tell me the truth doesn't matter how i feel but truely tell me how things are. They must also give me truthful advise and not just kiss ass.
I agree to a certain extent on this post. I don't quite understand why friends and family members would not serve as a good support base for the cabinet. I do believe that in that case, one should be rather selective and only associate with those who would be dedicated in you. From this, they know that they are the ones that you can count on when in need. Contacts of previous managers and mentors should also be apart of the "list" of potential cabinet members who should also know you on both personal and professional levels. I feel that with this balance of people, the cabinet should be successfully filled with all the right people.
Building a career Cabinet seems to be to be something like building networks in a sense, is what I have understood. They seem similar to me in that they both need people to keep a relationship, in which you talk about your advancement and their and help each other along the way. I didn’t know it would be as much important, till I have read about it now; because before I thought you would have time, and it will happen slowly, but it is an on going process.
One way I think a person can help build their own career Cabinet is by remembering important details about the people, such as events that they have gone to or events that have occurred. It will help them in bettering their relationship along with having some key points to reference to if needed in conversation for either party. This may help you relate to them and find similar goals in which you both benefit.
For my cabinet, I would like assign my boss, who is a dedicated worker and intelligent my parents. I believe that these three people will help me make a wise decision and help me out during the most difficult time in my life. My boss is like my teacher, who has taught me about this real world. She has trained me to be a one of best employees. On the other side, I have lovely parents who will support me and love me no matter what. With help of these three, I can encounter anything and be a successful leader.
In a sense, i almost feel like i can disagree about what you said about family and friends not being good members of a cabinet. But this is only because, quite luckily, my mother happens to be a business professor (teaching international business in Baruch's Marketing department), so i feel like she is a perfect member for my cabinet. Not only do i trust her fully, and know she has my best interests at heart, but given the immense respect i have for her professional experience and work (ironically, i also hope to pursue international business) i really feel she is ideal. Since starting at baruch, i have felt that her connections and knowledge have proven really resourceful for me, as it really is like having my own private professor at home.
When you ask the question "who has your back?", the only answer that comes to mind is "ME!" I have always very independent as a child and especially as I have become an adult. I never want help from anybody and I definitely appreciate my alone time. I don't know how well I would do with a cabinet and i can not even imagine who i would nominate for it.
Indeed, my personal cabinet consists of my family and my boyfriend. As you said, it is not a good option since emotions influenced my cabinet. However, I am good with it for now because I want to expand my cabinet once I start working in the real world and then I can begin my networking. Then I can imagine that my professional cabinet will be replaced by my professional one.
Picking a Cabinet or any type of team is a very difficult task. It is crucial that you pick people who you know are competent and trustworthy individuals. The one thing that I would probably go against is your idea of not electing friends or family to take part in your team. Although you should definitely not overwhelm your Cabinet with them, I think it is necessary to have very few, perhaps one or two. These are people who you trust and can rely on and people who you know will have your back. Another think that I think should be necessary is to have a couple of people who are on the flip side of your ideas. This provides some sort of balance and will represent the people who do not agree with you.
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